6/12/2006 • World War II Lieutenant General Joseph ‘Vinegar Joe’ Stilwell did not give up a fight easily. As long as there was the slightest possibility of salvaging a situation, the irascible infantryman saw himself duty-bound to try. In Burma during the dark days of May 1942, Stilwell’s stubborn insistence that an attempt be made to re-establish control over retreating Chinese troops put the general and his small staff directly in harm’s way. In the midst of the chaos of a complete Allied military collapse, Stilwell finally was forced to undergo a long march to India with the Japanese snapping at his heels. By the end of April 1942, it was obvious that Lt. Gen. Sir Harold Alexander’s Burma army could no longer hold a defensive line against the Japanese, who were pushing northward from Rangoon to Mandalay. Three Chinese armies had moved into Burma from the province of Yunnan between February and April in an effort to restore the situation. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek had placed Stilwell in command of this Chinese Expeditionary Force.

Unfortunately for the Allies, however, Stilwell found his Chinese subordinates recalcitrant in following his instructions, which were frequently contradicted by Chiang’s own direct communications with his generals. The command situation was further complicated when Chinese forces were placed under Alexander’s overall command. As Alexander attempted to hold a defensive line from Prome in the west to Toungoo in the east, in late April the Japanese smashed the Chinese 55th Division on the Toungoo front and rapidly pushed northward toward Lashio (the starting point of the crucial Burma Road) and Myitkyina. This action panicked the Allied troops, who also gave ground along the Irrawaddy River and commenced a general retreat toward Mandalay. Stilwell himself had arrived in Burma in March, thinking to use his Chinese troops to launch a counteroffensive against the Japanese. In February he had been dispatched to the Chinese capital of Chungking with the task of improving the fighting efficiency of the Chinese army, which was already deeply involved in fighting the Japanese. Chiang Kai-shek was the supreme Allied commander for the China theater, and Stilwell had been designated his Allied chief of staff.

The Chinese had been obtaining supplies from the United States through the port of Rangoon; these were then trucked into China over the treacherous Burma Road. A major Japanese aim was to cut off this means of supply to Chiang by invading Burma and seizing that route. Because of the direct threat to Chinese interests, Chiang was willing to send troops into Burma, and Stilwell sought and eventually received command of this Chinese Expeditionary Force. But Chiang refused to permit Stilwell to use the Chinese without strings attached, and this interference made Chinese armies in the field less effective than they otherwise might have been. With the general collapse of the entire Allied position in late April, Stilwell found himself unable to control the movements of his troops. Chiang, from his headquarters in Chungking, persisted in issuing contradictory orders both to Stilwell and the Chinese generals in Burma. In one instance, Chiang sent word to Stilwell on April 29 that Mandalay (a militarily undefendable city) was to be held at all costs. The next day Chiang reversed this edict. Frustrating as such intrusions were, Chiang’s mercurial temperament was the least of Stilwell’s problems.

In late April, Stilwell had two forward headquarters in Burma–one at Shwebo (north of Mandalay) and one at Lashio. There were small American staffs at each of these headquarters, but on April 25 the Lashio headquarters was abandoned and its staff sent on to China via the Burma Road. Stilwell was at Shwebo when Alexander ordered the evacuation of all Burma. The order was simply a confirmation of what was already taking place, as British, Indian, Burmese and Chinese troops were engaged in a chaotic scramble along escape routes to India and China. Despite the anarchy that surrounded him, Stilwell remained calm, even after the Japanese attempted to bomb his headquarters (a traitorous Buddhist priest had divulged its location to the enemy). On April 30, Stilwell wrote in his diary: ‘Imminent danger of disintegration and collapse. We are sending 40 people to Myitkyina, 12 to Katha and leaving 20 here.’ Stilwell planned to fly to Loiwing, near Lashio, the next day in an effort to re-establish some control on the eastern front. But events were moving too fast.

Loiwing, which had been a base used by Claire Chennault’s American Volunteer Group, the famous ‘Flying Tigers,’ was by then already evacuated. Stilwell had also requested a plane at Shwebo to evacuate part of his staff to India. That plane, piloted by Colonel Caleb V. Haynes of the U.S. Tenth Air Force, arrived at Shwebo around noon on May 1, and Stilwell put 15 members of his staff on the aircraft, which flew to Calcutta. Other planes were due in later, but Stilwell had no intention of remaining at Shwebo until they arrived. Instead, he led his small party north by truck and jeep along rough trails and roads that paralleled the Mandalay-Myitkyina railroad tracks. Initially, this group consisted of about 80 people, but it would eventually grow to 114. Stilwell reached Zigon (headquarters of the Chinese Fifth Army) late on May 1. According to his aide, Lt. Col. Frank Dorn: ‘The floundering troops of the Chinese army were his most immediate concern.

His plan was to go to Myitkyina where the airfield was still in operation. From there he could fly out all Americans but a small staff and a few doctors, who would stay with the Chinese, evacuate the sick and wounded by air, and establish a base in the Hukawng Valley from which he could launch a counteroffensive to retake Burma.’ Even at that late date, and in the face of a total Allied collapse, Stilwell was still thinking in offensive terms. The plan for getting to Myitkyina, however, depended on the availability of rail transportation. Stilwell’s transportation officer, Captain Paul Jones, scouted the rail line to the north and discovered that a collision had blocked travel both north and south. Stilwell’s party would have to continue northward by road and trail. The general remained hopeful that the tracks to Myitkyina would eventually be cleared. His party reached Pintha on the evening of May 2 and Wuntho on May 3. At Wuntho, additional Americans joined the general’s party. ‘It is now apparent that we can no longer be of much use’ Stilwell wrote.

‘Decided to send our crowd out.’ Frustrated that he could learn little of the real situation, Stilwell came to realize that the military situation was completely lost and that his primary duty now was to get his small party to safety. The next day, on the morning of May 4, Stilwell wrote in his diary: ‘Disintegration at Shwebo….Japs going up Chindwin River. Civil war conditions all over again. Chinese out of control. [Fifth] column busy.’ He was still looking to take a train north to Mogaung or Myitkyina, but Jones reported that the railroad was hopelessly jammed. It would be impossible to go much farther north. There were no roads to Myitkyina that could carry vehicles. The general and his growing party would have to turn west and head for the Chindwin River. From there the group could cross the mountains and eventually reach the British base at Imphal, in India’s Manipur state. Stilwell was unsure how far he could take his vehicles after turning westward, but he knew a trek over the mountains to India would require that they be abandoned at some point.

Despite the anticipated difficulties, Stilwell was also well aware of the need to get his people ahead of the mob of retreating Chinese troops, British stragglers and refugees who were trudging northward along the only good road. His frustration with the situation was evident in his diary entry for May 5: ‘If I can only get them around the corner….Battled all P.M. to get them forward, ahead of Chinese rush….Everybody fooled around, and sure enough the Chinese began to come up and pour through. They went right thru us like Red Grange.’ Late on May 5, Stilwell ordered the abandonment of all his trucks, which were continually bogging down along the primitive roads and slowing the column. After reaching the overcrowded town of Indaw on the 5th, Stilwell’s party turned west toward the Chindwin. Although he abandoned his trucks, Stilwell retained all his stalwart jeeps to transport his most critical supplies. The general believed he was ‘ahead of the deluge’ by the time he made camp on the evening of May 5. The multinational party now consisted of 26 members of the U.S.

Army (mostly officers), 15 British soldiers and 14 Chinese soldiers; a hospital unit under the command of Gordon S. Seagrave (the famous ‘Burma Surgeon’), which included 19 Burmese nurses; a small Quaker ambulance unit; and a handful of civilians, including correspondent Jack Belden of Time and Life and the Reverend Breedham C. Case. Case had long experience as a missionary working with the natives of upper Burma and could speak a number of hill tribe languages. Because of this, Stilwell let Case undertake the negotiations for the porters who would be necessary along the route. The Stilwell group had certain advantages over the other soldiers and refugees seeking a way out of Burma. First, Stilwell himself was utterly determined to bring every member of his party out alive, regardless of the hardship involved. Second, the soldiers were still armed and knew how to use their weapons. Third, medical personnel made up a significant portion of the group, and a limited amount of medical supplies continued to be carried even after all vehicles were abandoned.

The Burmese nurses also would make a strong contribution to the morale of the entire group through their singing of hymns such as ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ and ‘The Battle Hymn of the Republic’ during the march. Finally, the Stilwell party possessed sufficient money to permit the purchase of anything worth buying en route. On the morning of May 6, Stilwell gathered his group around him and gave them a pep talk. The party set out by foot, except for the 11 jeep drivers. The route took them through the village of Mansi and on to Magyigan. They were off the main refugee route by this time–a great relief to all concerned. British authorities had warned Stilwell that the route he proposed taking through the mountains was very difficult due to the steepness of trails on the far side of the Chindwin. A more southerly route had been suggested, but Stilwell knew the Japanese were closing in on all exits from Burma, and the easier route to Imphal, through Sittaung and Tamu, was very vulnerable to ambush from Japanese patrols. Vinegar Joe knew he would have to push his people hard, despite their suffering from a variety of ailments.

Seagrave, for example, had written on April 30: ‘This talk of our tramping out of Burma has me worried. It has been a long, long time since I have had to do much footwork in the jungles, and I feel much older than forty-five, with this confounded malaria that keeps returning. And no treatment of any sort helps these four sores on my feet.’ A victorious enemy was not the general’s only concern. Stilwell was not only racing the Japanese but also the monsoon. The season was fast approaching, and torrential rains could pose another challenge to escape. Despite this Stilwell believed that with a determined effort, he could beat both. In order to succeed, he figured that the group must make at least 14 miles of progress per day, regardless of conditions. If the monsoon arrived early, the trail to India would become a muddy quagmire and streams would turn into raging torrents. The party had enough food for several days’ march, but after that it would be dependent on scavenging from the jungle, or possibly obtaining some from native villages. Stilwell had radioed India of his circumstances, but had had no confirmation that his messages had been received.

As far as he knew, his group was entirely on its own. The heavy radio that Stilwell possessed could only be transported by vehicle. When the jeeps had gone as far as possible, they too were abandoned, and the radio was destroyed. Stilwell sent his last message on May 6: ‘Gen. Brereton, New Delhi–Am heading for Homalin and Imphal, with party of one hundred. Hope to make Homalin May Tenth. If possible, send five hundred lbs of food from Imphal by carriers to meet us at Homalin. Indian govt. should be warned rice, police, and doctors urgently needed by refugees on all routes to India from Burma. Large numbers on way. All control gone. Catastrophe quite possible. End.’ Stilwell knew that food and other supplies might be obtained at Homalin, but he also knew there was the possibility that the Japanese might beat him there. If so, Vinegar Joe was prepared to go down swinging. ‘[I]f we do meet [the Japanese], they’ll have a fight on their hands,’ he told Dorn.

‘I’m not going to let them grab these people without putting up a scrap.’ Early on May 7, the real hike began. Fortunately for the column, a chance encounter with a Chinese mule train the previous day eased the burden of the party tremendously. The muleteers had been returning empty-handed from India to China when the Stilwell group spotted and captured them. From that point on, the mules would carry the heaviest loads. In addition, 60 native bearers had been requisitioned by a pair of British Forestry Service guides with Stilwell. The column started from Magyigan with Stilwell in the lead at what the general described as an ‘easy pace’–the army regulation rate of 105 steps per minute–down the Chaunggyi River toward the village of Saingkyu. Stilwell marched his group right down the middle of the stream, which was not particularly deep, because the heavy vegetation on the riverbanks would have made overland travel difficult. Still, the midday heat was appalling, and the already weakened condition of the party began to tell as the day wore on. Several people fell out with heatstroke, or worse. When Colonel William H.

Holcombe fell out of line he had to be revived with ammonia crystals. Major Frank D. Merrill, who would later command the famous ‘Merrill’s Marauders,’ staggered over to the riverbank and dropped facedown into the vegetation, having apparently suffered a heart attack. He was towed downstream on top of an air mattress while still unconscious. Stilwell commented, ‘Christ, but we are a poor lot.’ To save strength, Stilwell announced that each member of his group would personally carry no more than 10 pounds. In addition, at the prodding of his chief medical officer, Colonel Robert P. Williams, the general agreed thereafter to avoid marching during the hottest period of the day. Captain Jones recorded that ‘our rations were then porridge, rice, corned beef, and tea. Not much but it kept us going.’ The routine was now 50 minutes of marching followed by 10 minutes of rest, repeated until the midday break. After the break, Stilwell would keep his column moving, allowing for the short breaks, until he was comfortable that enough progress had been made for the day.

The trek was already beginning to wear on even the hardiest members of the group, and Stilwell knew that the most difficult part of the journey lay ahead. On May 8, Japanese bombers flew overhead, causing the party to scatter for cover and reminding everyone that they were still far from safety. The hardship was not all negative; by May 9, Stilwell noted that the party was ‘gradually getting some discipline.’ Often if a person fell from exhaustion, Vinegar Joe kept trudging forward, trusting that the medical personnel in the group would administer to the ill, putting them on mules if necessary, but keeping them moving until they caught up with the rest of the column during a break period or at the nightly bivouac. Late on the afternoon of May 9, Stilwell reached the village of Maingkaing, on the Uyu River. The Uyu was bigger than the Chaunggyi, and Stilwell hoped to be able to send his people down it by boat or raft until they reached the vicinity of Homalin on the Chindwin. Traveling by watercraft, it was thought, would be a welcome respite from walking.

The village chief at Maingkaing had been apprised of the need for water transportation, but when Stilwell arrived only a few rafts had been prepared. By the next morning, however, an adequate number were ready. The party set out down the river in five groups. An advance guard of four American officers occupied a single raft, which was about 20 feet long by 10 feet wide. The other four groups each had three rafts lashed together, so that the overall length was roughly 60 feet for each. All the vessels were rather loosely constructed of bamboo and vines, and each raft section had a thatched hut for protection from the sun. Colonel Williams commented: ‘On the rafts we were organized into three shifts, each of us on duty for one hour, off duty for two hours, throughout the 24. On duty we poled, paddled and steered. Off duty we slept, ate occasionally (usually once a day) and were always ready to go over the side to push the raft off a snag.’ Unfortunately, what Stilwell had intended as a somewhat relaxing experience proved to be an arduous one.

Captain Jones noted that: ‘We had to pole in many places to get any forward momentum at all. Poling a boxy, homemade raft on a sluggish river under the hot, Burmese sun, is the kind of work that could cause a man to give up soldiering.’ While the bulk of Stilwell’s party would spend two solid days negotiating the Uyu River by raft, the general had sent his mule train and porters overland to Homalin, under the care of his 14-member Chinese army bodyguard and commanded by American Lieutenant Eugene Laybourn. Stilwell and the mules would rendezvous near Homalin on May 12. In the meantime, the rafts began falling apart in the river. On the 11th, it began raining, a sign of the coming monsoon that could unleash itself in full force at any moment. The party continued moving toward Homalin day and night. At one point a lone British bomber passed low overhead, returned and dropped wrapped packages of food onto a sandbar. It was the first indication that anyone in India had received Stilwell’s messages requesting assistance.

When Homalin was finally reached, Stilwell discovered that it had been hastily abandoned by British officials and much of the native population. No news of the Japanese was available, and no food had been left for Stilwell’s party by the retreating British. The telegraph office was shut. When Laybourn arrived with the mules, Stilwell ordered him to swim the animals across the Chindwin and link up again with the main group on the other side of the river. The general led the rest of his party through the town to a Buddhist temple a few miles north, where they spent the night, much to the disapproval of the unfriendly priests who lived there. On May 13, it was finally time for Stilwell to cross the mighty Chindwin, which marked the last major water barrier to the party’s successful escape from the Japanese. After a two-mile walk from the temple to the river, the general and a handful of American officers stood on the bank trying to figure out how to cross it. Colonel Dorn recounted: ‘Stilwell bit down on his cigarette holder and frowned, glaring at the river as if by sheer force of will he could compel some form of river craft to appear.

Suddenly, five dugout canoes and a freight boat nosed around a bend half a mile up the angry surge of water.’ The general’s Kachin guide hailed the boatmen, who immediately responded by turning toward the shore. Stilwell directed that six lines be formed, and the boats transported the group piecemeal to the west bank of the river. Once there, Stilwell waited for the mules to arrive and the porters to get organized, describing the latter activity as a ‘hell of a mess.’ Finally, the whole party moved out into the steep Naga Hills. Stilwell remained unimpressed by the efforts of some of his officers. ‘Took it easy over good trail,’ a frustrated general noted, ‘but the sissies are pooped out. They can’t take it.’ After crossing the Chindwin, for the first time the members of Stilwell’s party knew they were probably safe from the Japanese. But it was a near-run thing. Less than 36 hours after Stilwell left Homalin, a large detachment of Japanese cavalry entered the town. Curiously, Stilwell’s group felt no real elation at the thought of having escaped from the enemy’s grasp.

As Colonel Dorn noted, ‘Apathy and physical weariness seemed to pervade the entire party–that and a certain element of fear at the thought of the mountains to be crossed, the peaks and high ridges to be scaled.’ Indeed, the most difficult hiking of the entire trek would be encountered west of the Chindwin. According to Seagrave, only six people had used this mountain trail ahead of the Stilwell party in making their way out of Burma. On the afternoon of May 14, Stilwell led the group on a long climb up to the Naga village of Kawlum. Because no food had been delivered at Homalin, the party’s most immediate concern was nourishment. Upon reaching Kawlum, however, their worries ended. British administrator Tim Sharpe had led a relief expedition eastward from Imphal. After five days, he made contact with Stilwell at Kawlum. After seeing to the needs of his party, a proud Stilwell wrote: ‘Food, doctor, ponies and everything. Quite a relief, though we could have gone on by ourselves.’ Much hard climbing remained, however.

Fortunately, the sick and lame among the group could now ride on pony or horseback most of the way, until the motor road to Imphal was gained. But the mountain peaks that the trail crossed reached as high as 7,500 feet. At Chammu, Stilwell was greeted by a chieftain in a bright red blanket who offered the general a bottle of rice beer as a sign of friendship and respect. At another village, the general was presented with a goat–Stilwell offered cigarettes in return. As the party progressed toward Imphal, it was repeatedly stopped by various village chiefs offering the ubiquitous rice beer, for which the usual teetotaler Stilwell developed a strong liking. The general was impressed with the Naga porters, whom he described as ‘good looking and tough, good-humored and friendly.’ He was also taken with the magnificent mountain views the steep trail afforded. On May 18, at the large village of Ukhrul (which Stilwell compared favorably with the mountain retreat of Baguio in the Philippines), the Assam Rifles of the Indian army presented Stilwell with a formal salute in honor of his arrival.

The next day, after a 21-mile march, the group reached the truck head at Litan, where two American officers met the party with war news, chocolate bars, American cigarettes and whiskey. Imphal had been bombed by the Japanese, and the bomb craters were much in evidence when Stilwell finally arrived there in the midafternoon of May 20. The truck ride from Litan to Imphal had proved to be 16 miles of pushing and pulling through thick mud, followed by 10 miles of easier driving over gravel road. By this time, the monsoon was in full fury. Stilwell, at age 59, had pushed himself and his people relentlessly, but all 114 members of his party survived the march out of Burma. The general arrived at Imphal with a bad cold, had lost at least 25 pounds and was suffering from what later turned out to be a bad case of jaundice. Several members of the group needed to be hospitalized. After a brief stay at Imphal, however, Stilwell proceeded to Tinsukia in northern Assam, where he met with Maj. Gen.

Lewis Brereton of the Tenth Air Force, other American officers, and the British generals Sir Archibald Wavell and Sir Harold Alexander. From there, he flew on to his headquarters at New Delhi. Stilwell’s trek from Burma was epic. With thousands of troops and refugees fleeing from the Japanese, the Stilwell party may well have been the only sizable group to escape with no loss of life. For many days, its presence was unknown to the outside world, and the general was even listed as missing in action. On May 12, U.S. Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall had radioed Stilwell: ‘The President, the Secretary of War, and the entire War Department are filled with admiration for the courageous manner in which you have met the hazards of the past ten days.’ At that point, Stilwell was at Homalin, barely ahead of the Japanese, and he had already destroyed his radio equipment, so the message did not reach him until May 20. In his diary entry for that date, Stilwell questioned why the War Department would send him what seemed like a congratulatory message in the face of a great military debacle.

Concerning the loss of Burma, the general had already remarked to his aide, Colonel Dorn: ‘What a bitter tragedy it’s all been. Worse because it might have been avoided.’ When Stilwell arrived in New Delhi on May 24, he was greeted by a crowd of news correspondents anxious for comment on his ordeal and for his view of the military disaster. Later that evening, the general held a press conference at which he described the campaign in Burma. ‘I claim we got a hell of a beating,’ he snapped. ‘We got run out of Burma, and it is humiliating as hell. I think we ought to find out what caused it, go back and retake it.’ This article was written by Marc D. Bernstein and originally appeared in the November 2004 issue of World War II. Marc D. Bernstein is the author of Hurricane at Biak: MacArthur Against the Japanese, May-August 1944. For further reading, see Walkout with Stilwell in Burma, by Frank Dorn. For more great articles subscribe to World War II magazine today! Diaries of General Joseph W.

Stilwell, 1900–46 | Hoover Institution China Diaries of General Joseph W. Stilwell, 1900–46 “Part of the Stilwell Papers, the war and other diaries of Joseph W. Stilwell . . . deepen our understanding of his life and times. The blunt, forceful, and irreverent ‘Vinegar Joe’ comes through on virtually every page. Illuminating Stilwell's personality, achievements, and foibles, his cryptic daily notes also increase our appreciation of this complex general's place in history. Their faithful transcription and publication on the Internet open up for a new generation of researchers one of the major sources for The Stilwell Papers (1948) and Barbara Tuchman's Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911–45 (1970).” -John W. Lewis Haas Professor of Chinese Politics, Emeritus, Stanford University Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for International Studies Read» "FRI. JAN. 1, 1943. Got up to-day, to start the New Year right.

Calls -- (RC Ch'en & Shen.)...." Joseph Stilwell’s Diaries, 1900–1939 and 1945–46, Available Online Thursday, February 14, 2013 Joseph Stilwell began his diary in the early 1900s and kept it up, to a greater or lesser extent, until his death in 1946. Now those decades of diaries , including observations on his travels through China, Japan, and the Philippines before World War II, are available on the Hoover Archives website. They supplement Stilwell’s World War II diaries , transcriptions of which Hoover has offered online since 2005. All are part of the Joseph W. Stilwell papers at Hoover. News Sound Recordings in Joseph Warren Stilwell Papers Digitized Tuesday, May 4, 2010 Several messages to the American people from General Joseph W. Stilwell, recorded in Burma during World War II, are among the sound recordings in the Stilwell papers that have been digitized by the Hoover Archives.

News Stilwell Diaries at Hoover Featured in Phoenix TV Documentary Thursday, August 20, 2009 Another segment in the Chinese-language television documentary series about Joseph Stilwell, including footage shot at the Hoover Institution, can be viewed in its entirety on You Tube . To view the segment taped at Hoover, forward to 1:14. News General "Vinegar Joe" Stillwell - YouTube General "Vinegar Joe" Stillwell Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Dec 9, 2012 This 1963 film covers the military career of U.S. Army General Vinegar Joe Stilwell in the Far East including China during World War II. Episode from The Big Picture series (1950-1984) Video courtesy of U.S.

Army / Department of Defense ********************************** America and Military Themed Gifts and Collectibles Category Stilwell in China: The Worst Command in the War | Defense Media Network Stilwell in China: The Worst Command in the War By Dwight Jon Zimmerman - March 6, 2012 Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai-shek with Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell, Commanding General, China Expeditionary Forces, April 19, 1942. Although all smiles in this photo, the relationship was stormy. U.S. Army photo Sharing Options: Labels: Conflicts & Operations , International Militaries , U.S. Army , World War II On Jan.1, 1942, Maj. Gen. Joseph Stilwell was thick in the planning for Operation Gymnast, the original code-name for the landings in North Africa , when he was summoned into the office of Army Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall . The subject: China. With a relationship poisoned by history, ill will, and conflicting strategic goals, the British and Nationalist Chinese allies were at loggerheads.

Roosevelt ordered Marshall to send a high ranking general to China to be a buffer between the two, and keep China in the war. Stilwell, who had served three tours of duty in China, was the army’s foremost China expert – not only fluent in Mandarin, he could curse a blue streak in a number of Chinese dialects. The short list contained two names: Lt. Gen. Hugh Drum, and Stilwell. Stilwell recommended Drum. As for why, in his diary he wrote, “They remember me as a small-fry colonel that they kicked around.” “Your leadership, especially under the peculiar conditions and difficulties of your authority and in a desperately critical situation, is a model for our army.” — Army Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall personal letter to Lt. Gen. Joseph Stilwell, April 29, 1942 Gen. George C. Marshall and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson confer in the Munitions Building, Washington, D.C. Jan. 1942. Stimson and Marshall selected the reluctant Stilwell for the task of serving as the U.S. commander in China. U.S.

Army photo But Drum, through his arrogance and demands, took himself out of the running. On Jan. 12, Stilwell was again in Marshall’s office. Marshall told him, “Joe, you have twenty-four hours to think up a better candidate. Otherwise it’s you.” The next day, Stilwell met with Secretary of War Henry Stimson. Stimson asked the general what he thought of the China command. After swallowing hard and knowing that his next words would lose him the amphibious operation command, Stilwell said, “I’d go where I was sent.” The assignment had all the elements of a career-destroying snakepit. Whereas Stilwell loved China and its people (he and his wife regarded it as a second home), he had no illusions or respect for its leaders. The posting carried with it three jobs: chief of staff to Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek; commanding officer of American forces in China; and Lend Lease administrator. It needed an individual possessing the tact, patience, and diplomatic skills of a Talleyrand.

Instead, on March 6, 1942, Chung Kai-shek greeted an Anglophobic, newly-minted American lieutenant general with the nickname “Vinegar Joe.” Their first meeting went well enough. A second meeting three days later to discuss strategy for a coordinated campaign with the British against the Japanese in Burma exposed the vast rift between the two. Stilwell wrote in his diary: “What a mess. How they hate the Limeys. And what a sucker I am.” Soon the phrase “Chiang Kai-shek and his changeable mind [have] me worried” and its variations began appearing in his diary. It didn’t help that of the four theaters of war Stilwell’s command was the lowest on the logistics totem pole and the furthest away from the United States. Chiang was reluctant to fight the Japanese, but was eager to get Lend-Lease supplies – to fight the Chinese communists under Mao Zedong. Stilwell was eager to fight, but as keeper of the keys to the Lend-Lease warehouse, Stilwell would go to hell before giving Chiang anything without assurance that he’d release the Chinese armies to fight the Japanese. From left to right: Maj. Gen.

Sun Li-jen, Lt. Gen. Lo Cho-ying, and Lt. Gen. Stilwell inspect Chinese Nationalist soldiers at the Ramgarh Training Center. U.S. Army photo By June 1942, their relationship had deteriorated to a point that for a period of one month, Chiang refused to answer Stilwell’s memos. Instead, he went around Stilwell’s back, using T.V. Soong, his representative in America and his wife’s brother, to petition for Lend-Lease aid and spread falsehoods about Stilwell. On July 19, 1942, Stilwell’s diary entry began: “Got Shang Chen [Director of the Foreign Affairs Bureau of the Chinese general staff] in and gave him the memo on Burma for transmittal to Peanut. This is an attempt to give Peanut an out on his big demands, and show his willingness to cooperate.” “Peanut” was Chiang Kai-shek. This was Stilwell’s first use of the derogatory nickname, repeated often from that point on. Chiang repeatedly tried to get Stilwell relieved. But Marshall, protecting Stilwell in Washington, D.C., prevented it.

Chiang finally got his wish in October 1944. Stilwell’s biographer, Barbara Tuchman , wrote that on October 26, “after 32 months of unslackened pursuit of the least attainable American goal of the war, [Stilwell] wrote the last entry of his mission: ‘Shoved off – last day in CBI [China Burma India Theater].’” Joseph Warren "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, Jr (1912 - 1966) - Find A Grave Memorial Joseph Warren "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, Jr Death: Jul. 25, 1966 United States Army General. His father was Joseph W. "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell Sr. of World War II China-Burma-India Theater fame. He served in three wars: World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Born in New York, he was appointed to the US Military Academy from California, and graduated with the Class of 1933.

During World War II, he served as the Theater G-2, at his father's Headquarters, CBI Theater, and was subsequently promoted to Colonel in 1944. During the Korean War, he served as the Commander, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He became the Deputy Commanding General, 18th Airborne Corps, from 1959 to 1961, and was a Brigade Commander at Fort Devens, Mass. 1961 to 1962. From 1962 to 1964, he was the Commanding General, US Army Support Group, Vietnam, and was made the Deputy Commanding General, US Army JFK Special Warfare Center from 1964 to 1965. In 1965, he became its Commanding General. In 1966, while traveling from Thailand to Vietnam his plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean. Stilwell's body was never found.

His awards include the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit (2 awards), the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Soldier's Medal, the Bronze Star Medal (4 awards, one for Valor), the Purple Heart (2 awards), and the Air Medal (26 awards). (bio by: Kit and Morgan Benson) Burmese Campaign in World War II - The Stilwell Road (1945) - YouTube Burmese Campaign in World War II - The Stilwell Road (1945) Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Feb 7, 2012 Armies from different nations and walks of life come together in a truly epic struggle to open a supply route that would aid the Chinese and American forces in an effort to resist the Japanese from overrunning the entire Asian theater.

The Stilwell Road was produced by the American Office of War Information and the British and Indian film units in 1945 detailing the creation of the Ledo Road, also known as the Stilwell Road after the U.S. General Joseph 'Vinegar Joe' Stilwell. The film concentrates mostly on the importance of the Burma Campaign and the Burma Road in supplying Chinese and American forces in resisting the Japanese from occupying the entire Pacific theater. This film is narrated by Ronald Reagan. Category Joseph Stilwell Joseph Stilwell ▼ Primary Sources ▼ Joseph Stilwell Joseph Stilwell, the son of a businessman, was born in Florida on 19th March 1883. He attended the West Point Military Academy and graduated in 1904 (32/124) and was commissioned as an infantryman. Stilwell served in the Philippines before returning to West Point to teach English, French, Spanish and History. An outstanding sportsman, he also coached basketball, athletics, baseball and football. During the First World War Stilwell served as an intelligence officer in France where he won the DSM and helped plan the St Mihiel offensive (September, 1918).

Stilwell had three tours of duty in China (1920-23, 1926-29 and 1935-39) and was in the country when the Japanese Army invaded in 1937. General George Marshall , who had been impressed with Stilwell when he was head of the tactical section of the Infantry School, arranged for him to become commander of the 7th Infantry Division in July 1940. The following year he became head of the 3rd Corps. Promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, he was sent to establish American Army Forces, China, Burma and India (CBI). By the time he had arrived in India on 25th February 1942, Singapore and Burma had both been invaded by the Japanese Army . He immediately began talks with Chaing Kai-Shek , the military leader in China . Eventually Kai-Shek gave permission for Stilwell to take command of Chinese forces in Burma. On 2nd May 1942, General Harold Alexander , Allied commander in Burma , ordered a general retreat to India . An aircraft was provided to take Stilwell and his staff out of the country.

However, Stilwell refused the offer claiming that it would have a bad psychological effect on his Chinese troops. Stilwell now began his long march and covering about 15 miles a day through difficult terrain, reached Delhi on 24th May. However, by this time most of his troops had deserted and gone back to China . Stilwell established the American Army Forces, China, Burma and India headquarters in New Delhi and Ramgarh became the main training centre for Chinese troops in India . Chaing Kai-Shek also gave Stilwell command of what was left of the 22nd and 38th Divisions of the Chinese Army. In February 1943, Orde Wingate and 3,000 Chindits were sent to Burma . Their task was to disrupt Japanese communications, attack outposts and destroy bridges. The operation was very costly and of the 2,000 who returned, 600 never recovered to be able to fight again. Orde Wingate met Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt in August 1943 and explained his theory of Long Range Penetration.

Churchill was impressed and agreed to expand the size of the Chindits and Wingate was promoted to major general and given six brigades (3rd Indian Division). Roosevelt also decided to create a similar group led by the the American officer, Frank Merrill . Orde Wingate returned to India in September 1943 and began to plan Operation Thursday. The plan was aimed at destroying Japanese communications from southern Burma to those fighting Stilwell in the north and William Slim in Imphal and Kohima. On 24th February 1944, Major General Frank Merrill and his troops, known as the Merrill's Marauders, attacked the 18th Japanese Division in Burma. This action enabled Stilwell to gain control of the Hakawing Valley. Operation Thursday was launched by Orde Wingate in Burma on 5th March, 1944. The Chindits established Broadway, a jungle clearing 200 miles behind Japanese lines. This included an airstrip that enabled supplies and reinforcements to be flown in and the wounded flown out. Over the next few months the Chindits destroyed Japanese roads, railways, bridges and convoys. Once again the Chindits suffered heavy losses.

Wingate was himself killed when his plane crashed into a hillside near Imphal during a storm on 14th March 1944. By May 1944 Major General Frank Merrill had lost 700 men and had to be reinforced with Chinese troops. On the way to Myitkyina the Marauders marched for 750 miles and fought in 5 major engagements and 32 skirmishes with the Japanese Army . Casualties were high and only 1,300 Marauders reached their objective and of these, 679 had to be hospitalized. This included Merrill who had suffered a second-heart attack before going down with malaria. The rest of the Marauders had to wait for reinforcements before Myitkyina was taken on 3rd August 1944. In August 1944 Stilwell was promoted to full general and two months later was recalled to the United States and was replaced by General Albert Wedemeyer. He was appointed as head of Armed Ground Forces until given the task of replacing General Simon Buckner as commander of the 10th Army.

Stilwell arrived at Okinawa on 23rd June but by that time the battle was virtually over and the following month he took over from Chester Nimitz as military governor of the Ryukyus. Considered to be temperamentally unsuitable for this job he was recalled to Washington in October 1945. Joseph Stilwell died of stomach cancer on 12th October 1946. War Auction War Auction wordpress plugins and themes automotive,business,crime,health,life,politics,science,technology,travel World War 1: Ieper (Ypres), Belgium Belgium, a country in the northwest of Europe on the North Sea. In ancient times Belgium was inhabited by the Belgae, the region was part of the Carolingian and Roman empires before breaking up into a number of feudal states during the middle Ages. The region occupied by present-day Belgium passed to the Hapsburgs in the 15th century and then to the French in the 18th century. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, Belgium was given to the kingdom of the Netherlands, from which it gained independence as a separate kingdom in 1830.

Brussels is the capital and the largest city of Belgium. Belgium was an important chapter in the World War I. After the sudden occurence of World War I (Aug., 1914), Belgium was invaded by Germany in order to attack the French by the easiest route, this unashamed violation of Belgian neutrality shocked much parts of the world and brought Great Britain into the war, as one of Belgium's guarantors. The unexpected resistance of the Belgians against such heavy odds won widespread admiration, and German atrocities in Belgium, publicized by the Allies, played an important part in strenghtening U.S. opinion against Germany. All of Belgium except a small strip in West Flanders, which served as a battle front throughout the war (Ieper or Ypres), was conquered by Oct. 10, 1914, and the people suffered under a harsh occupation system. The Belgian army fought in West Flanders and France throughout the war under the leadership of Albert I. Ypres or Ieper, a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. During World War I, Ieper was the centre of serious and sustained battles between the German and the Allied forces.

During the war, English soldiers nicknamed the city "Wipers." The Allied forces captured Ieper from the Germans in the First Battle of Ypres (31 October to 22 November 1914). In the Second Battle of Ypres (22 April to 25 May 1915) the German force used poison gas for the first time on the Western Front and seized high ground east of Ieper. The first gas attack occurred against British, Canadian and French soldiers, including both metropolitan French soldiers as well as Senegalese and Algerian tirailleurs (light infantry) from French Africa. Of the battles in the World War I, the largest, most-known, and most costly in human suffering was the Third Battle of Ypres (21 July to 6 November 1917, also known as the Battle of Passchendaele) in which the British, Canadians, ANZAC and French forces recaptured the Passchendaele ridge east of the city at a terrible cost of lives. After several months of fighting, the battle resulted in nearly half a million casualties to all sides, and only several miles of ground won by Allied forces. Ieper was all but destroyed by the artillery fire.

Many landmarks and memorials of the World War I and museums are worth visiting in Ieper. 1. Menin Gate Memorial - Memorial dedicated on 24 July 1927 to the missing British and Commonwealth soldiers who fell in Belgium during World War I. It has a Last Post Ceremony each night at 8:00 PM as a way for the Ypres citizens to express their gratitude towards those who died for Belgium's freedom. 2. Flanders Fields Museum - It is located right in the center of the Ypres Cloth Hall. This museum gives an excellent overview of World War I. It is a sort of an experience that takes you right into the daily life during the war. 3. Memorial Museum Passchendaele - A Museum in a beautiful setting, conveying the story of the Great War in chronological order. It has lots of information on the different battles and a large selection of authentic artifacts on display. About the Author Tourist Destination, Ieper, Belgium here. War Auction World At War: Inside the Reich 1 of 5 Frequently Asked Questions... What is a good book on world war 2 medals given to war heroes?

I am doing a social studies project and i have to draw different medals given to world war 2 heroes. My teacher is making us use 3 non internet resources. I have absolutly no idea what books i could use. So if you know any books that would be helpful, let me know! Answer: You do not mention if you only want American or from any country. There is a biography of Nancy Wake, a New Zealand born woman who studied in Australia and became an Australian citizen. I think the biography is called "The White Mouse". She worked as a reporter in Paris and during the war was a member of the French Resistance and was nicknamed "The White Mouse" by the Gestapo. Nancy Wake is the most decorated female of WW-2 with five (5) British medals including the George Medal (the 2nd highest British medal a non officer can win). Others include the 1939-45 Star, the France and Germany Medal, the Defence Medal and the British War Medal 1939-45. She also won three French medals and an American medal.

They were (in order of seniority) -- Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, the French Croix de Guerre with Star and 2 palms, the US Freedom Medal plus the Medaille de Resistance. There is a biography about the US (four star) General (Vinegar) Joe Stillwell who commanded American and Chinese troops in China and Burma during WW-2. The biography is called "Stillwell and the American Experience in China 1911-1845" by Barbara Tuchman. Stillwell received 10 medals of which two were WW-1. There is a biography about Maj. General.Orde Wingate, a British soldier who saw action in Palestine, North Africa and Burma. He won the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) three times plus a Mentioned in Dispatches. In total he would have had over 7 medals which is a large number for a British soldier. (the DSO would be one medal but with bars to denote how many time won). Wingate helped the Jewish Palmach train in the 1930's which caused problems with his superiors.

There are several biographies about Field Marshall Montgomery, a British General who fought in WW-1 and WW-2. Montgomery wrote several book and autobiographies. Other Biographies about him are: The Art of Leadership, by Montgomery The Full Monty, by Nigel Hamilton Monty and Patton, by Michael Reynolds The Memoirs of Field Marshal Montgomery, by Montgomery Monty's, by Charles Whiting Montgomery, by Nigel Hamilton. ===== I would not try Eisenhower as he received his medals after the war because he was the "Supreme Commander of Allied Forces European Theatre". Before that he had no combat or campaign medals, only service medals. Eisenhower never saw combat in his entire military career. Patton is also a bad choice as he is greatly disliked by British and Canadians soldiers because he was a a self-centred "gung-ho" leader who stole supplies destined for the British and Canadians troops in the northern front, started battles in his area well before the scheduled time and without knowing the strengths or dispositions of the enemy, and then when his troops were in trouble it was the under-equipped British and Canadians who had to rescue the Americans while leaving their own front undermanned. Related Posts

Question: Which World War Two general was nicknamed ‘Vinegar Joe’?
Answer: Joseph Stillwell